Good Thing

Fans.  Hello.  We are back after our longest hiatus since this chronicle began.  We have missed the chronicling, and you.

As is our usual practice after we have gone radio silent, we just plunge back in to what is unfolding at the moment.  We come to you from Wisconsin through which we are traveling by car, having spent Christmas in Illinois with Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles, and Aunt Kate, Uncle Scott, and Cousin Nick who flew in from Pennsylvania.

Birdie is in her Santa hat tucked up against her Ariel-shaped pillow.  She has been softly singing to herself (this much remains unchanged), but she's all sung out--for the moment.

Joe is snuggled up against his Thomas the Tank pillow pet, reading Code of the Clans, a companion volume to the Warriors series.

Here, we pause to tell you that the warriors of the Warriors series are likely not what sprang to mind when you read that sentence, Fans.  Rather, these warriors are feral cats, arrayed in clans--not tribes.  (Julie recently asked Joe what was happening with Lighteningheart's--Fierceheart's?--tribe and he said, "Umm, clan?  Tribe!" and then proceeded to giggle himself silly for several minutes.)  There are no fewer than six subseries about these cats.  That means there are six Warriors book with a number one on the spine.  You have to do some research on the interwebs to know where to begin if, say, you are requesting the first few from the library.

The bambini have one more week of winter break.  For the first time, they will be spending the bulk of it at home, with Julie, who recently resigned her position at the law school at which she worked.  Last night Joe commented, "Good thing Mommy switched jobs."  (At the moment, she has a part-time--temporary--job reading applications for a college which she does from home.)  Joe's comment was really nothing more to him than an offhand, understandably self-centered--or, more accurately, child-centric--statement of fact.  But Julie was struck by it.

Her decision to resign was, of course, complex, and, in many ways, difficult, even if she feels certain it was also right. It can be easy to lose sight of the good, and the good still yet to be realized, when one is getting comfortable with Uncertainty and its sometimes companion Anxiety, ushered in by such a change.  What Joe said reminded Julie of the importance of keeping Perspective close, and its boon companion Resiliency.  (Could resiliency be any other kind of companion?)  They can be there, too, helping Change reframe the scene to make more room for Good.  So it is that Julie will spend this next week with the bambini.  Good thing.

Office worker

Our sweet girl has a wonderful imagination and commits to her inventions.  A recent activity is to work on her computer she makes out of paper. A folded sheet of paper makes a nice little laptop. She has made several of these computers in the past few months and she is able to whip one up pretty quick. This model has a mouse which is a folded up piece of paper taped shut. In this picture she is typing on the keyboard, intensely focused on her composition.

Similarly, she also enjoys writing in her journal or making shopping lists.  Her writing consists of scribbled lines, but she always dutifully fills the page with her lines of prose.

Birdie Goes to Kindergarten

Brigade. Brigade! Birdie went to kindergarten today. She said it was "great, great, great!!!" She punctuated this exclamation by throwing both her arms up over her head with each great.  She played some disco alphabet. She listened to The Kissing Hand. She visited the library. She colored. (Joe has already said that he thinks Clara might be a better artist. There might be no might about that, Fans.)

There is no might about it that the day was made easier by the presence of two of Clara's KinderCare classmates in her room. One of them also walked to school today so Clara had a familiar face next to her while lined up against the brick wall by the school's enterence waiting for Mrs. Dvorak to come up with her students who'd taken the bus. It's at that point that the walkers join the stream toward Mrs. Dvorak's room. The buses were running a little late on this first day of kindergarten, so there was plenty of time to stare at Clara and hold back tears. She was there for such a long time--until suddenly, she wasn't. She was off! She was off. Julie was the only one who cried. No doubt no one is surprised by this.

You will all recall that Clara said she was not scared to meet new people! She just loved us so much. So there.  As it turns out, it might be a little hard to talk to friends we haven't met yet. Clara allowed as much just after she'd been tucked in tonight. She talked only to the two people she already knew. But plans have been laid! Longtime readers will recall that Joe had a plan on his second day: to ask someone to do something specific, such that if he or she said no, Joe could be all check you later as he dashed off to do it. Clara has the same plan. The alternative but not mutually exclusive strategy is to tell a friend-we've-not-met-yet that she likes her dress/skirt/shoes/hair/whatever, and see where it goes. Julie reminded Clara to be sure to say yes if someone asked her to play. Clara looked at Julie and said very matter of factly, "It's not hard when someone asks me to play."  Point taken, Brigade, point taken.  Birdie. She'll tell you how it is. No might about it.  That's our girl.  Our kindergartener!

Madonna imitation.

Birdie Gets Ready For Kindergarten

Our Birdie, meanwhile, will go to her first day of kindergarten on Thursday. This afternoon, we had a conference with her teacher, Mrs. Dvorak, who our longtime readers will no doubt recognize as Joe's kindergarten teacher as well.

We were so proud of our kindergartner-to-be! She answered all of Mrs. Dvorak's questions about what she liked to do, and what we like to do as a family, and what else she wanted Mrs. Dvorak to know about her. When Mrs. Dvorak asked us if there was anything we wanted her to know about Clara, Julie said that Clara was a little apprehensive--which she un-fancied to scared for Clara--to meet new people, at which point Birdie broke in and said--with an eye roll!--"I'm not scared! [eye roll] I just love you so much." Oh. Oh! Mrs. Dvorak allowed us a moment to collect ourselves after that announcement. It was so heart-stoppingly Birdie: tender, but independent--with a little bit of attitude.

After we left Mrs. Dvorak's room, Clara said she wanted to see the gym. So we headed down a floor to the gym where we met one of the gym teachers, Mrs. S. Clara asked if the gym was just the floor, or if there were toys--"equipment," she then quickly corrected herself--!!! Mrs. Dvorak has a Fancy Nanacy fancy words poster in her room now, waiting to be filled. We think Birdie is going to love (adore, harbor deep affection for, hold dear, be over the moon for) this poster.

She is off her feed a bit, as Grandpa Charles would say--cranky and emotional. Who can blame her? Thursday will be a big (huge, tremendous, momentous, epic) day. We will keep you posted.

Birdie tries out her assigned hook.

Our Hero Goes to Second Grade

Fans, Our Hero is a second grader. Today was his first day of the new school year. He was a pretty cool customer but not long before we all left the house to walk him over, did say, "This is the hardest part." For Julie, it came later, when she realized that the long leave-taking that is being a parent doesn't seem like it's really going to ever get any easier.

Joe's teacher's name is Mrs. Gamble. Her room is right next to Joe's first grade teacher's room. He was in Chicago with his Grandparents Trump on the day of the ill-timed meet the teacher event, so "right next to Mrs. Stolusky' room" and his new teacher's name were the two pieces of information we gave him to get him from the school's front door to Mrs. Gamble's room. He was game. But when it was upon him--after he'd walked in the building and s nearly to the stairs--he turned back, panic in his eyes, and said, "Wait. What's my teacher's name again?"

Julie admonished herself to let him be a risk taker--to force it!--but after she replied, "Mrs. Gamble," she asked one of the staff at the entrance if she could accompany him to his room. At the door to the hallway his classroom was off of, she tried again to let him go, pointing down the hall to Joe's room. But when Joe said, "Can you just come with me for, like, three seconds?" she caved again! We save risk taking for another day.

It was only moments later that he saw his friend Kathleen and introduced himself to Mrs. Gamble. The three second were up. Julie made her way back out to the sidewalk where Ted and Clara were waiting and tried to hold back her tears.

Five and a half hours later, he came out the same doors and said, "The first day was awesome." If you are wondering why, Fans, here is what Our Hero had to say: "One, no homework. Two, the work was easy and boring. Three, recess." Mr. Easy Peasy did not manage to bring home his take-home folder though. Perhaps he mistook it for the non-existent leave-at-school folder. So he may have some things as yet to learn. But how to meet the world with a happy heart, he seems to have down. Can we get a folder for that?

Shortly before leaving for school.  In case you cannot tell what Our Hero is doing, we will tell you that he is dragging the wagon along on a jump rope teether attached to his scooter.  Miraculously, it did not end in tears.

Not even when Clara hopped in wanting to be hauled around.